Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Hello and welcome to another rushed weeknight edition of Christmas In July! I never seem to allow myself enough time to post all this music and say pithy things about it on the weeknights. I spend all my time after work trying to record my quota of new tracks for the day, then I spend the last half hour of the night trying to pick out some tracks and share them. But you don't come here to read what I wrote, I suspect, you come for the music, and I don't intend to disappoint you! Let's see what's in the pile tonight.

1. Snowfall by the great Earl Grant, taken from Fly Me To The Moon (Decca DL 74454, Stereo, 1963). Earl Grant is all but forgotten today, but he left a large catalog of pretty good stuff. He had a great Christmas LP, and one of my great finds during the Christmas season last year was a single of all-new Christmas songs he put out before the album. And this track is not the last you'll hear from him this month.

2. Greensleeves by The Vic Schoen Orchestra from Great Songs From All Over The World (Kapp K-1097-S, Stereo, 1961). Those of you who haven't been around during earlier Christmas In July celebrations may wonder what's up with all these versions of Greensleeves. Well, play it and sing the words to What Child Is this. See? Same song!

3. Fuyu Geshiki (Japanese Snowflakes) by 101 Strings, Conducted By Richard Müller-Lampertz, Koto Solos By Shinichi Yuize, the last selection I have for you from Songs Of The Season In Japan (Alshire S-5019, Stereo, 1964). It is not, however, the last selection I have for you from 101 Strings this year.

4. Christmas Oratorio-Schlafe Mein Liebster, a little bit of classical vocal fireworks for you by Marilyn Horne With The Vienna Cantata Orchestra Conducted By Henry Lewis from the LP Marilyn Horne Sings Back And Handel (London OS 26067, Stereo, 1969). Honestly, I don't know where I come up with some of this stuff sometimes.

5. Blue Lonely Winter by Jimmy Newman from The Jimmy Newman Way (Decca DL 74960, Stereo, 1967). And now we venture into something close to country. Or countrypolitan, or whatever you want to call it. Hard to assign genres sometimes.

6. Suite Of Carols (Excerpts) by Frederick Fennell from The Music Of Leroy Anderson, Volume 3 (Mercury Living Presence MG50400, Mono, 1965). I think I know why they call this excerpts, but I need to do some comparisons. Stay tuned...

7. Lambeth Walk/Leaning On A Lamp-Post/I'm A Little Christmas Cracker/This'll Make You Whistle by Big Ben Banjo Band With The Mike Sammes Singers from the album Sing Along With Big Ben (Columbia/EMI (UK) 33SX 1757, Mono, 1965). I love when I pick up some odd LP with just a neat cover, flip it over, and there some Christmas goodness hidden in the track listing. And the Mike Sammes Singers to boot!

8. I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas by Yogi Yorgesson, a ringer taken from his reverb-drenched LP The Great Comedy Hits Of Harry Stewart As Yogi Yorgesson And Harry Kari (Capitol Star Line T1620, Mono, 1961). Listening to this while I was recording it (I ripped the whole thing, just because), I was almost convinced it was a different recording than I was used to, then I realized they'd just added echo or reverb to it to make it sound a little fuller. I guess they did that a lot in the early years of the stereo era with mono recordings. Probably better than fake stereo, but not much.

9. I Saw Three Ships by Silver Burdett Records (there was no artist listed, so I just named it after the label...) from the LP Making Music Your Own-Kindergarten Record IV (Silver Burdett Records 75 180 4, Mono, 1966). I ripped a whole pile of Christmas and Chanukah music from this record tonight, so you'll be sick of it by the time I'm through sharing them all with you. Even a few Thanksgiving tracks, you know, just in case...

10. Easter Parade; White Christmas by Jay Blackton Conducting His Chorus And Orchestra from the tribute album Let Me Sing And I'm Happy-The Best Of Irving Berlin (Epic LN 3408, Mono, 1957). Two holidays in one!

11. Ave Maria by Joni James With Orchestra And Chorus Conducted By David Terry from Give Us This Day-Songs Of Inspiration (MGM E3528, Mono, 1957). Why am I sharing eleven tracks? I must have clicked on too many or lost count when I was selecting what to share. Now I'll have to stay up even later and record more for you.

lots of tunes got shared or borrowed before the days of copyright lawyers. the british liked the americans' tune "my country tis of thee" so much, that they changed the lyrics and now it's their unofficial national anthem "god save the queen".

Got Vinyl?

Ernie's Christmas record want list. There might be something in that stack of Christmas records you want to throw out that I need. Actually, there's a lot more that I need that I don't know about, so send 'em all to me (especially singles)! (Revised 03 March 2018)